America isn’t the only country with Sunday political shows. The UK has them as well. The new British defence minister went on Sky News and made an ass out of himself with comments about the Trump administration. And that is why Wes Streeting is malaka of the week.
Wes Streeting was elected as a Labour MP in 2015, which was a shite year for Labour, but a good year for Streeting. He’s a photogenic and articulate political hustler, forever on the make. He was the health minister in the Starmer government before turning against the Prime Minister and hinting at a leadership challenge that never came.
Wes Streeting is no James Dean. He’s not even Sal Mineo, let alone Dennis Hopper. That concludes this riff on Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without A Cause.
In the end, all Streeting did was shit stir against Starmer and pave the way for the return of Andy Burnham to parliament and power. His fellow Labour MPs thought Streeting was too callow and calculating for the top job. Instead, Burnham appointed him defence minister, which disappointed the malaka on the make because he hoped to be higher up Disraeli’s greasy pole. It’s still a big job to give to a chancer like Streeting.
As he showed on Sky News’ Sunday show, Wes Streeting is a man of flexible views:
Streeting, in an interview on Sunday with Sky News’ Sunday with Trevor Phillips, said he had spoken to his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, and had been plain about the continued differences over Iran.
He said: “I was clear that we have not supported offensive action in Iran and we won’t support offensive action in Iran. But there are plenty of things that we can and should do together.”
Such straightforwardness was valued by Trump and his team, Streeting argued: “The first thing you do is, you don’t suck up. My impression is, President Trump, his administration – that’s not what they’re looking for. He’s a straight talker.”
Don’t suck up?
Trump is a straight talker?
Has Streeting entered an alternate fact-free universe now that he has to deal directly with Hegseth and Trump? Sucking up is integral to MAGA and its dear leader is a pathological liar. Wes Streeting knows that.
All I have are questions which are made more baffling by this headline on a Time Magazine piece from 6 weeks ago:
Could Wes Streeting A Vocal Trump Critic Replace Keir Starmer
The article includes this quote from 2017:
Trump is such an odious, sad, little man. Imagine being proud to have that as your President.”
I thought Trump was a straight talker who disliked suck-ups. I understand charm offensives but this takes it into the realm of pandering, lying, and sycophancy.
This rhetorical flip-flop shows Streeting’s fundamental shallowness as a politician, a quality he shares with the Kaiser of Chaos.
Streeting’s unintentionally funny comments will repel Labour voters and receive nothing but scorn from the UK’s lefty punditry who already dislike him for his naked ambition. The Brits prefer clothed ambition as it were.
Wes Streeting’s verbal malakatude stands in contrast to King Charles during his state visit to the US last spring. Charles criticized Trump so subtly that the latter didn’t know it was criticism.
The King is not the only Brit who knows how to finesse MAGA malakatude: Keir Starmer may have been politically maladroit at home, but his handling of foreign policy and the Trumpian ego was adept. In contrast, Wes Streeting thinks he’s a master politician when he’s not even master of his domain. And that is why Wes Streeting is malaka of the week.
The last word about this rebel without a clue goes to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: